1 History

Windows... architectural development... takeover of artificial lighting...

renewal of interest in daylight... energy use... passive architecture...

strategy... control

‘It is impossible to overestimate the important influence of natural light

on the interior and exterior forms of buildings and on those who dwell

in them. So daylight is the natural beginning’^1.

From the earliest caves, daylight informed the lives of the inhabitants,
initially in the difference between night and day; but as dwellings became
more sophisticated, by means of openings or windows letting in light.
The history of architecture is synonymous with the history of the
window and of daylighting from the initial crude openings, letting in
light and air, heat and cold, the window was the vehicle for the
introduction of daylight, and ultimately to the wondrous interiors of the
mediaeval cathedral, the Baroque churches or the many private buildings
of the eighteenth century.
The window has developed over the centuries, but its purpose of
letting in daylight has remained its primary role; window openings
required a suitable infill to modify the external climate. At first various
materials were used, such as thin slabs of marble, sheets of mica or oiled
paper, but it was not until the development of glass for windows that
substantial progress could really be made.
Glass had been discovered as early as 3000BCin Egypt, and was used
for decorative objects, but it is known that small panes of hand-blown
glass set into bronze frames were used for the infill to window openings
during the Roman period. These were little different to the leaded lights
of the mediaeval period, being limited to the small pane sizes governed
by the manufacturing process.
It was left until the seventeenth century for large panes of glass to be
developed in England and for larger windows to be made possible.
The history of windows is really the history of architecture, from the
crude openings in the sides of early domestic buildings open to the
atmosphere, or openings in the roof construction, allowing the entry of
rain collected in a central pool.

(^1) Lighting Historic Buildings. Architectural Press. 1997